Dear President:

“America has the worst health care in the developed world,” (Time magazine).

We as Americans have been duped into being the proud owners of that dubious distinction. And why is this? Because we treat each ailment as its own problem. We look for the answers to only the relevant questions rather than trying to pass the whole test. The Insurance companies divide us up into pieces, then label each one like a slab of meat with the appropriate price. It has been like this for generations. And it's about time we change it.

Whole body health is the joining of mental and physical health care. Currently the procedure is disjointed because the care is not team based.”Team-based care is just that, a team of healthcare providers from diverse disciplines -- physicians, advanced practice clinicians, nurses, mental health providers [...] -- who work together with patients, families and communities to provide coordinated healthcare services,”("Integrating mental, physical health care”).

In many cases, health care providers do not and are not able to communicate with each other because of the HIPAA act (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). HIPAA is the contract that must be signed by patients in order for their private information to be shared between providers. Not having communication between providers can cause huge issues in health care plans for patients because many times there is comorbidity between chronic illnesses and mental illnesses. "Chronic illness and mental health are linked. The frequent coexistence of depression and chronic illness identified by the World Federation for Mental Health highlights the need for integrated care within the health service,"("Experts Advocate Integrated Approach to Mental Healthcare").

Currently, in America, very few healthcare providers offer the whole body healthcare system. An example of a place that does practice Whole Health Care is a facility in Utah called Intermountian. They have conducted many experiments comparing whole body health care and the type of care offered everywhere else. The results were surprisingly positive towards the whole body approach. “For patients, the bottom line of the study is that getting care in a team-based setting where medical providers work hand-in-hand with mental health professionals results in higher screening rates, more proactive treatment, and better clinical outcomes for complex chronic disease,”("Integrating mental, physical health care”). This suggests that in many complex and interrelated cases whole body health is beneficial to both patients and health care providers. I believe that if whole body health care is put into place we, as Americans, will be able to drop the title of worst health care in the developed world.

Whole body health care must be the predominant way we treat people in the future. Only through understanding the benefits and cost savings to the insurance companies will this idea gain in popularity. Merely with the combined efforts of health care providers, insurance providers and new legislation pushing for more funding will this happen. I hope that in the future you will be able to make this system of health care a reality.

Sincerely, 

Sam 

Citation

"Experts Advocate Integrated Approach to Mental Healthcare." Africa News Service 21 Oct. 2010. Student Resources in Context. Web. 2 Oct. 2016.

"Integrating mental, physical healthcare improves outcomes, lowers costs: Study." UPI News Current 29 Aug. 2016. Student Resources in Context. Web. 2 Oct. 2016.

Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2016.

"U.S. Health Care Ranked Worst in the Developed World." Time. Time, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2016.